Girl acquitted of murder charges

A girl aged 19, Anusha (name changed) has been acquitted of murder charges of her father. She murdered her father when her father attempted to rape and kill her.

The Madras high court, took note of the circumstances under which she committed the murder, has quashed the case against her and left her free of murder charges.

Justice S Nagamuthu while delivering the judgment said “when a girl is put in a situation where she is about to be raped by her father, she would use any weapon available in an attempt to protect her modesty”.”That is what she has done in this case,”the judge said.

On the day of May 17, 2011, when Anusha was alone at her home in Mangadu, on the outskirts of Chennai, after her brother left for work, she was shocked to find her drunk father making sexual overtures to her. When she pleaded with him not to harm her and resisted his advances, he picked up a knife and attempted to kill her. She reached for a knife and stabbed him in the stomach thrice. He died on the spot. She then called her brother and informed him.